Arkansas falls to NC State in Game 2 of Super Regional 65 (original) (raw)

A late rally fell short, and No. 1 Arkansas dropped Game 2 of the Fayetteville Super Regional to NC State, 6-5, Saturday afternoon in Baum-Walker Stadium to set up a winner-take-all matchup tomorrow with a berth to the College World Series on the line.

The Razorbacks appeared to be carrying momentum from last night's offensive outburst when a Charlie Welch two-run home run in the second inning gave them an early 2-0 lead. NC State scored the next six runs, including a trio of home runs in the fourth, and carried a 6-2 lead through six.

Arkansas battled back, cutting the deficit to 6-5 with a three-run seventh highlighted by a Brady Slavens home run and RBI single from Jalen Battles but couldn't scratch across anything else against NC State closer Evan Justice.

"Tough loss. Just couldn’t get over the hump," said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn. "They helped us out a little bit, gave us another couple of at-bats. We got it within one and Kevin did a good job keeping it there. Got to give Justice credit. He didn’t give us much the last couple of innings. Highfill threw a great game. Just kept us off the bases. We got a couple-three hits on him, maybe two home runs. He might have walked us twice. But we never pieced anything together.

"The game just flew along. Then they put together some really good at-bats there in the fourth, hit a couple, three home runs. We were playing catch-up the rest of the game. So it’s kind of the way it works. We go to a last day to see who gets to advance."

A day after the NC State pitching staff allowed 21 runs on 17 hits, they buckled down to limit the Razorbacks to just five runs and four hits Saturday. After the Wolfpack's bats were only able to muster a pair of runs Friday, they bounced back in impressive fashion to force Sunday's elimination game.

"They did a great job," said Van Horn of NC State. "We kind of knew what was going on (Friday). They were throwing pitchers that they weren’t really planning on using here. So we took advantage of them, got some hits, a lot of things went our way. They walked a lot of us. It kind of just happened. But we knew today was going to be tough. They would throw their guys at us. When they got ahead of us it got real tough."

RUNDOWN

NC State, the home team Saturday, sent righty Sam Highfill to the mound and he navigated through Braydon Webb, Matt Goodheart and Cayden Wallace in short order for a quick top of the first. Arkansas lefty Lael Lockhart followed suit with a seven-pitch, 1-2-3 frame of his own in the bottom half of the first.

After a walk to Brady Slavens to lead off the top of the second, Charlie Welch launched a two-run home run to left field to give Arkansas an early 2-0 lead.

The Wolfpack got their first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the second after Terrell Tatum walked and later stole second, but Lockhart kept them off the board with a big strikeout of Devonte Brown on a 3-2 pitch with two outs and the runner in motion.

NC State got its first hit of the game in the third on a leadoff infield single from Vojtech Mensik followed by a bunt base hit from J.T. Jarrett. After Murr bunted both runners into scoring position, Lockhart was replaced on the mound by Ryan Costeiu.

The next batter, McDonough, grounded sharply to second base. The Hogs got the out, but it allowed the Wolfpack to push across their first run, 2-1. Costeiu finished off the inning with a big strikeout of Butler, leaving the tying run for NC State stranded at third.

Highfill kept the deficit at one run for NC State by putting up a zero on the mound in the fourth, and the momentum carried into the bottom half when Jose Torres and Luca Tresh hit back-to-back home runs to put the Wolfpack on top, 4-2.

The woes continued for Costeiu. Later in the inning, Mensik added a solo homer of his own to push the lead to 5-2 for NC State. Van Horn turned to Caden Monke out of the pen, who quickly recorded the final two outs of the inning to stop the bleeding.

Highfill continued to keep the bats quiet for Arkansas with quick innings in the fifth and sixth, making it 15 consecutive Razorbacks retired after the shaky second inning.

Connor Noland came on in relief for the Hogs in the bottom of the sixth. A single and walk to leadoff the inning came back to bite him as NC State used a bunt and chopper to short to push across another run, 6-2.

Brady Slavens connected on a solo home run in the top of the seventh to cut the deficit to 6-3 for the Razorbacks. After a walk to Welch, the Wolfpack brought lefty Evan Justice out of the pen.

He retired Moore, but a single up the middle by Smith gave Arkansas runners on the corners with two outs. Casey Opitz dribbled what looked to be the third out to short, but he reached on a wide throw to first that allowed another run to score, 6-4. Jalen Battles followed with an RBI base hit up the middle, 6-5.

Kevin Kopps took over the pitching duties for the Hogs in the bottom of the seventh and sat down the 2-3-4 hitters for the Wolfpack in short order. Justice bounced back on the mound for NC State in the top of the eighth, retiring Goodheart, Wallace and Slavens to keep its one-run lead intact.

Kopps held NC State at bay in the bottom half, sending Arkansas to its last at-bat trailing by a run.

Welch popped up the first pitch to right field for out number one. Moore grounded out sharply to third base for the second out, and Smith struck out swinging to end the game in a 6-5 loss for Arkansas.

UP NEXT

Arkansas and NC State will meet Sunday, June 13 at 5:00 p.m. (CT) in a winner-take-all Game 3 from the Fayetteville Super Regional with a berth to the College World Series on the line. The game will be aired on either ESPNU or ESPN2.